Deborah Rees, Director for Cast said:
‘This partnership marks a shared ambition for culture in Doncaster to inspire a generation. Culture should be an essential part of every childhood, so to see every school participate and enjoy in this fantastic cultural experience is a great step forward in our collective responsibility to help our children thrive.’
Through the National Learning Programme, the Royal Opera House will work with every school in Doncaster over three years, this will include CPD and performance opportunities, the chance to work with artists who are at the top of their profession, and opportunities for children, young people and schools to watch the best ballet and opera in the world!
Alongside this, The Royal Ballet will perform a gala at Cast, and the ROH’s popular Chance to Dance talent development programme. Chance to Dance will give primary school children from across the borough who do not have access to ballet in areas facing numerous disadvantages their first opportunity to engage creatively with ballet, connecting closely with the inspirational repertory, choreographers and dancers of The Royal Ballet.
Already the partnership has enabled over 50 schools across Doncaster to improve their dance and design provision and confidence through the Create and Dance and Design and Create programmes, and delivered a fantastic digital project over the Summer of 2020 through Doncaster Dances working with people of all ages and backgrounds across Doncaster, and professional Royal Opera House Dances to create a piece of digital dance theatre that has been watched by people across the world!
Doncaster schools can get involved now through the below FREE programmes:
Create and Dance Free CPD & Refresher Training
Unlock your students’ imagination and creativity with Create and Dance!
Create and Dance are offering a 'Refresher' CPD to all schools in Doncaster who attended training in 2019/20. This training will be delivered virtually as a twilight session on the 27th of April. A team of Royal Opera House dance artists will recap the Building Blocks of dance and take you through the basics of motif development, character dancing and performance skills focusing on the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland scheme of work. This session will be designed to re-energise and encourage teachers to plan to deliver a Create and Dance project in the Summer term and beyond.
Create and Dance is a creative learning programme, created with teachers, providing ballet for children in primary schools across England. The programme provides classroom-based and digital activities, as well as resources to encourage dancing at home, with strong curriculum links, giving students a better understanding of dance and unlocking their imagination and creativity. If you are interested in attending a full course (delivered over two twilight sessions) then please enrol in one of our Nationally available dates included in the listing below.
ENROL FOR CREATE AND DANCE HERE
Create and Sing Free CPD
Get your class from page to stage, and performing their own opera, with Create and Sing!
Aimed at teachers of Key Stages 1-3, our two-part online twilight training course, led by ROH drama and music practitioners, introduces the Create and Sing programme, its pedagogy and resources. We will be delivering our online two-part training for teachers from Doncaster on the 25th of March and the 20th of April. Each training course focuses on our 5-lesson Explorer courses, based on either Hansel and Gretel or Carmen. The associated resources support teachers wanting to offer their students a special (but manageable) summer project. The Royal Opera House and Doncaster Music Hub are exploring a possible summer event or digital project celebrating the creative work of Doncaster schools participating in Create and Sing.
Create and Sing teacher training offers an opportunity to come together and explore, learn and have fun. If you’re interested in running a creative learning project this summer, or just want to learn more about the programme, join us by registering on our Learning Platform. If you are unable to attend the Doncaster training, then please enrol in one of our Nationally available dates included in the listing below.
ENROL FOR CREATE AND SING HERE
Extensive and High Quality Learning Resources are available through the national learning programme.
If you have already been a part of the programme, we would love to hear about your experiences! Email: participation@castindoncaster.com.
Some feedback on the programme:
"Yes, yes, yes! We loved it. Lots of positive outcomes from the project... Lots of happy smiling faces, lots of conversation afterwards as to how much they enjoyed this, lots of participation. Eager to see the finished product." Wellbeing Manager at Charles Court care home
"Students were very engaged in all aspects but especially the creative side of the project where we saw a rise in confidence, there was great range and scope for them to express themselves... working together on this gave them a sense of teamwork and lifted their spirits. It was fantastic to see them so engaged and excited about their dancing again."
Principal, Arabesque Dance School Feedback from individual participants:
"I enjoyed the whole project especially the online classes with Charlotte and David. It was good fun and felt quite special being taught by dancers from the Royal Ballet."
"It was good socially as a group of us chatted to each other on WhatsApp and for most of us we had a socially distanced meeting in our garden, this being the first time to be out visiting someone since lockdown." Participant
